The biggest and most important climate-related conference this year - COP27 - opened Sunday afternoon in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm El Sheikh.

As leaders from the world have gathered for the 13-day event, financing for carbon emission cuts and climate change adaptation will be among the most discussed topics.

Here are three things to know before you delve into more detailed discussions:

Why is COP27 important？

It is time for developed and developing countries to reach a "historic pact" to defeat climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emission, "or we will be doomed," warned United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Thursday prior to the conference.

In the last few weeks, report after report has painted a clear and bleak picture: emissions are still growing at record levels. Instead of going down 45 percent by 2030, greenhouse gas emissions are on course to rise by 10 percent. Meanwhile, temperatures are on course to rise by as much as 2.8 degrees (Celsius) with the present policies in place by the end of the century, said Guterres. "That will make climate chaos irreversible," he said.

For years, countries have been calling for efforts to slow the pace of global warming, especially small island nations like Fiji and the Maldives, which have been seeing more and more of their land submerged by the rising sea.

These countries have arrived in Egypt to raise their voices again. According to the official website of the Pacific Community, an international development organization consisting of 22 Pacific Island countries and territories, 14 Pacific Island countries will attend the COP27 to advocate for the target of 1.5 to stay alive.

They will be joined this year by countries like Pakistan who came to the COP27 with a more urgent need: aid to compensate the country battered by record-breaking floods this summer.

As the impact of climate change is bringing more extreme weather conditions, be it Pakistan's floods, the Horn of Africa's famine, Europe's heatwaves, the international relations have suffered major setbacks in 2022 due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic.

There have already been some concerns on whether the geopolitical strife and the energy market turmoil could halt the progress on fighting climate change. Reuters reported before the conference that the COP27 will "test the resolve of nations to combat global warming."

A pact between developed countries and developing countries

One of the biggest fights at the United Nations climate summits has been whether - and how - the world's developed countries should help developing countries in finance and technology to cut emissions.

Developed countries are responsible for 79 percent of historical carbon emissions, which trap heat and lead to global warming, according to the Center for Global Development, a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C., and London.

Back in 2009, developed countries promised that by 2020 they would transfer $100 billion per year to vulnerable states hit by increasingly severe climate-linked impacts and disasters.

In fact, they provided $83.3 billion in 2020 - falling $16.7 billion short of the target, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said earlier this year. The target has repeatedly been missed, and will be missed again this year.

According to The Guardian, the "historic pact" that Guterres has in mind would involve clear new pledges on finance and for rich countries and emerging economies to strengthen their emissions-cutting targets.

Loss and damage

Loss and damage refers to the irreversible costs of both extreme weather events such as hurricanes, heatwaves, drought and wildfires, and climate disasters such as rising sea levels and melting glaciers. Developing countries are often the ones taking the brunt of the consequences. Pakistan, for example, is eyeing the COP27 for help. Reuters reported that its climate change minister, Sherry Rehman, was heading to the COP27 with one goal: finally getting the world to commit to helping countries like hers deal with the growing "loss and damage" caused by global warming.

More than 30 years ago, Island nations and other climate vulnerable countries started raising the concept of loss and damage, but it only drew attentions in the past decade, according to the Guardian. At the 2021 COP26 summit in Glasgow, developing nations called for richer nations to pay for their loss and damage. However, the call was rejected by the U.S., EU, Australia and others.

At this year's UN general assembly, the UN chief Antonio Guterres, described loss and damage as a "fundamental question of climate justice, international solidarity and trust," adding that "polluters must pay" because "vulnerable countries need meaningful action."

According to Reuters, a session to address loss and damage is on the provisional agenda, but policymakers will decide Sunday whether to put it onto the official agenda.

"I'm hopeful that it will get on the agenda," Matthew Samuda, a minister in Jamaica's economic growth ministry, told Reuters. "There has been a softening of positions from many nations who a year ago or two years ago would not have been willing to support it."

"We know the Europeans are supporting us," said Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, told Reuters. "Now we need to see whether the U.S. is going to block on their own or not."

(All images via VCG)

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